Installing KVM on CentOS 5.5

<yambe:breadcrumb>KVM</yambe:breadcrumb>

Installing KVM on CentOS 5.5

KVM can be installed on CentOS 5.5 using following steps:

1. Check for CPU flags 'vmx' or 'svm' based on whether processor is intel or amd.
2. Use 'yum remove kvm-qemu-img'
3. Use 'yum install kvm qemu virt-manager virt-viewer'
4. Reboot and boot into non-xen kernel. Even if you are already booted into non-xen kernel, still reboot is required.
5. Use 'modprobe kvm-intel' or 'modprobe kvm-amd' again based on processor.
6. Use 'service libvirtd on ' and 'chkconfig libvirtd on'
7. Add your user to kvm group using syntax 'usermod -G kvm -a <username>'
8. Start virt-manager
9. Add connection to localhost using qemu.

Note:

• You might have to create networks using virsh like default and setup bridges before you can create VMs.

Detailed steps have been taken from http://www.banym.de/projects/centos-fedora/install-kvm-on-centos

This way both KVM and Xen can be used based on which kernel is used to boot the system.